HOLLYWOOD STAYCATION
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh
FILMS TRAINSPOTTING 1 & 2, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, FILTH
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY ‘Auld Reekie’ has been a staple of cinema over the years but perhaps most indelible is Danny Boyle’s exhilarating adap of Irvine Welsh’s Scottish novel. Leg it down Princes Street and the Leith Street steps to reenact Renton’s opening dash from Trainspotting or strut the Royal Mile like dirty cop Bruce Robertson in Filth (giving a kid the finger in the Grassmarket is optional), or hang out at Miss Katie Cupcake as Wanda and Vision do in Infinity War before their mates arrive at Waverley Station.
DAY TRIP Just south of Edinburgh, you can live your best Da Vinci Code life at the Rosslyn Chapel – though the church is really dotted with cryptic carvings, the crypt isn’t like the one seen in the film. JC
Glasgow
FILMS FAST & FURIOUS 6, WORLD WAR Z, HOBBS & SHAW
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY Once dubbed ‘cinema city’, Glasgow doubled for London in F&F6, with Broomielaw and Cadogan/Wellington Streets as rain-slicked backdrops to rolling cars for the team-vs-team chase. From hot wheels to human meals, Cochrane Street/George Square starred as World War Z’s zombie-bothered Philadelphia, before the Fast fam reclaimed the turf for Hobbs & Shaw’s cars-vs-motorcycles ruck. This is Glasgow, baby.
DAY TRIP Travel SW to Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, base for The Wicker Man. Ellangowan Hotel is undergoing renovation, but you can still imagine your fiery demise near Whithorn cliffs. KH
The Highlands
FILMS SKYFALL, ROB ROY, UNDER THE SKIN, HIGHLANDER, BRAVEHEART
Jump in the car, crank up the James Horner and prepare to get epic. Join the busloads of blue-faced tourists screaming “freedom!” over the Glen Nevis Valley in the authentically named Braveheart car park, pretend to hang your friends over Rob Roy’s waterfall at Eas Chia-aig, or storm Eilean Donan Castle like a proper Highlander (or maybe restage ’s Bollywood romance)., or else sit on Auchmithie Beach wearing a wet fur coat, terrifying anyone who’s seen .
